When the scene calls for more than a kiss: Filipino intimacy coordinators enter the scene

By Brontë H. Lacsamana Reporter

THOUGH AN actor’s job entails sometimes being in intimate situations to truthfully play a role, sometimes things can go too far, or a director wants too much.

Take as an example, the Last Tango in Paris. The erotic Bernardo Bertolucci film famously features a rape scene between Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider. Ms. Schneider said, during a 2006 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, that the scene was not in the script. “When they told me, I had a burst of anger. Woo! I threw everything. And nobody can force someone to do something not in the script. But I did not know that. I was too young.” Ms. Schneider, when the film was made in 1972, was only 19. “Marlon said to me; ‘Maria, don’t worry, it’s just a movie.’ But during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn’t real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci,” she said in an interview with the Washington Post in 2007.

Today, such a situation is less likely to happen. A cultural shift in the entertainment industry over the last decade has led to the professionalizing of intimacy work, even in the Philippines.

WHAT CHANGED?In 2017, the #MeToo movement arose from sexual harassment accusations against American producer Harvey Weinstein, among many other powerful Hollywood abusers.

Things took off after that, with the first intimacy coordinator role created at HBO in 2018, and the first intimacy director for Broadway hired in 2019.

Intimacy coordination for film, or intimacy direction for stage, is about fostering consent and care-based collaboration between actors and the rest of the directorial team — especially when intimate scenes get uncomfortable.

Missy Maramara, a Filipino theater actress and director who is also a certified intimacy coordinator, has been advocating for this line of work to be more commonplace in local film and theater. All this while she herself is working on completing intimacy work certifications from international acting groups.

“The #MeToo movement started in the entertainment industry in the United States, but that doesn’t mean it’s only then and there that abuses due to power dynamics started happening,” said Ms. Maramara, in a conversation with BusinessWorld.

What changed is the younger generations, who now finally have the agency and the courage to speak up when boundaries are “challenged or even broken, whether on purpose or not,” she said via Zoom.

OF COMBAT CHOREOGRAPHERS AND INTIMACY COORDINATORSMs. Maramara explained that the goal is for actors not to get injured, much like a fight choreographer’s job.

“If there’s violence and combat, there should be a fight choreographer. On the other hand, if there’s intimate physical contact and emotional vulnerability, there should be an intimacy coordinator,” she said.

This view references the 2006 study of intimacy work by Tonia Sina (co-founder of Intimacy Directors International, or IDI), which connects the parallels of fight choreography with intimacy choreography.

As per this thesis, the safety principles used for fight scenes — choreographing safe, repeatable movements — have to also apply to intimate scenes, especially given the power dynamics between directors and actors.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATIONIntimacy coordination for film, or intimacy direction for stage, is about fostering consent and care-based collaboration between actors and the rest of the directorial team — especially when intimate scenes get uncomfortable.

“Over the course of my career, there were times I wish I knew nudity and lots of kissing were required before I was cast in a role,” Ms. Maramara said, to explain her personal realizations once the trend took off.

“I wish I could have spoken to someone about those instances, not just the director, whom I fully respect but wouldn’t talk to for fear of career repercussions,” she added.

Speaking as a director, it would also help to have someone mediate, even if the actor were a friend, since they could just feel pressured to comply so as not to be seen as “difficult.”

Jaime Wilson, a theater actor and director, told BusinessWorld in an FB message that, though he hasn’t worked with an intimacy professional yet, there were times where “another person watching out for the actors involved might have been useful.”

Mr. Wilson mentioned a particular scene on stage where his head was to be in between a co-actor’s legs. “At rehearsals I went a little too far in, and the discussion of parameters only happened after the fact. Knowing what I know now, it’s important to discuss it beforehand!”

“Discussing parameters and limits with actors is always a must. I’ve done that with my co-actors a few times, but there were a few instances where that discussion didn’t take place and we just winged it and went for it,” he said.

PREPPING FOR SAFETYRegina De Vera, an acting coach and intimacy coordinator for film, worked in Ryan Machado’s film Huling Palabas, an entry in the 2023 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.

This involved intimacy prep calls with the directorial team to discuss the scope of nudity and intimate physical contact required in their storytelling vision. After that, she relayed all that information via one-on-one intimacy prep calls with the actors, to check how that worked for their personal boundaries.

“We begin this back and forth until we reach a collaborative agreement between all parties,” she told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview.

Agreements can include preferences for costume and modesty garments (clothes placed strategically on actors’ bodies in scenes where they need to appear nude on-camera).

Afterwards, everything is written down and signed by the actors and the line producer at least a week before shooting begins. This allows everyone involved to “come into the set with clear expectations on what is required of each department, with as little to no last-minute changes.

“On set, I assist the directorial team and the actors in the choreography of the intimate scenes in a consent-forward manner,” said Ms. De Vera.

Ms. De Vera became an intimacy coordinator after returning to the Philippines after completing a Master’s in Acting at Juilliard, inspired to do so after she learned of what had happened in the Philippine High School for the Arts — students and alumni came out in November 2021 to expose the abuse that they had experienced from members of their faculty.

“I knew that if I was this angry about something, it’s a sign that I had to do something about it,” she said. “We are overdue in updating the paradigms we’ve inherited that believe abuse and force builds ‘character.’”

According to Ms. Maramara, while there are only a handful of intimacy professionals working in the Philippines, the awareness is beginning to spread.

“I’ve been sharing what I’ve learned with universities, the Theater Actors Guild, and the Guild of Assistant Directors and Script Continuity, because I really want the industries to understand that it’s absolutely necessary to have intimacy professionals in the country,” she said.

SEEKING CERTIFICATIONMs. Maramara is currently working towards an intimacy certification for theater with the Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC) and for film with the Intimacy Professionals Association (IPA).

She is the first coordinator from the Philippines to reach level three of the IPA process.

Aside from beefing up her credentials as a professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, it will also help her get hired for upcoming projects under Amazon Prime Video, which is expanding to Southeast Asia.

“Since I’m with IDC, an American SAG (Screen Actors Guild) member who’s coming to the Philippines (to film) might require me as a domestic coordinator. They won’t have to fly someone in from the US because I’m already here,” she said.

However, the certification process is an expensive one.

For example, to achieve certification with IDC, one must first complete the Level 1 Foundations of Intimacy online course that costs $399 and then the Level 2 Foundations of Intimacy Course that costs $549.

“The challenge in the Philippines is really resource allocation. People would rather not develop skill sets that aren’t funded,” Ms. Maramara said.

She explained that, although being certified shouldn’t be a hard requirement for a set to be safe, it would definitely open up a lot of opportunities for the professional and his/her country.

Meanwhile, for Ms. De Vera, being certified means that one is giving power to an institution to document your training, which legitimizes your practice, which is not necessarily bad.

“I find it problematic that, in a field that promotes care-based and consent-based practices, there is a certification ecosystem that is overpriced and accessible mainly to people with financial and geographical access,” she said.

This is why Ms. De Vera instead trained via online intimacy courses at Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE), which does not certify but offers scholarships.

Though both intimacy professionals took different paths, they share the same goal — that hopefully, the Philippines develops its own robust ecosystem of intimacy work that provides support and advocates for Filipino actors.